Financial Support

Most graduate students (except in the M.Eng. Program) have some degree of financial support, so you won’t necessarily be adding to the debt you have accumulated doing your undergraduate degree. There are a number of means of financing your studies. They include scholarships, teaching assistantships and research assistantships. The number of major scholarships is limited. However, many graduate students get teaching and research assistantships.

Scholarships

The main graduate scholarships are:

Carleton University and the University of Ottawa — the NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council). This is a very prestigious scholarship — requires a GPA of roughly 10/12 and is open only to permanent residents of Canada. This scholarship is complemented by additional financial assistance from the university.

Carleton University and the University of Ottawa — the OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship), for Ontario residents only. This scholarship is complemented by additional financial assistance from the university.

University of Ottawa — the FQRNT (Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies), for Québec residents only. This scholarship is complemented by additional financial assistance from the university.

Applications for all these must be submitted in early October, and the scholarships are awarded in late March.

Teaching Assistantships (TA)

Many M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. students get TA’s. These involve up to 10 hours work per week assisting a professor in a course by demonstrating labs, leading tutorials, and grading.

Research Assistantships (RA)

These are paid from the research funds of the supervising professor, and the amount depends on the professor and project.